Vera Farmiga On Film & Family

She’s “made a career out of playing girlfriends and mothers,” but New Jersey-born actress Vera Farmiga says it’s her latest role, as a confident yet complicated middle-aged woman in Up in the Air, that’s earned her the most admiration.

“I am a heroine with middle-aged women all over the country,” she tells The Times Online. “They come up to me and say: ‘Oh my God! This subject is so hush-hush! But I love seeing a woman like this, who has female desire!’”

Off of the big screen, Vera lives a very un-Hollywood life, raising goats in the Catskill Mountains with her husband Renn Hawkey and their 1-year-old son Fynn.

“I met Renn five years ago,” she says of her carpenter hubby, “and I wanted to have a baby with him from the moment I laid eyes on him!”

Her career may be taking off, but Vera says it’s her family – and her beloved goats – that take top priority.

“I still have the same criteria by which I chose roles and projects. But now they have to be even more important to take me away from my family.”